Is it appropriate to ask our florist to find a way to incorporate our family’s tallit (Jewish prayer shawls) into the chuppah they are constructing for us? What about finding a way to bring in some of our mothers’ jewelry or wedding dress pieces into the flowers? Can they do this for us?

– Robin S.

Robin,

Love this question! It’s totally appropriate to do this! Here’s a list of some of the personal items we frequently see worked into weddings/florals and how we make it happen:

Tallit – The prayer shawls mostly worn by Jewish men are often handed down from generation to generation and are frequently used as part of a couple’s chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy) during their ceremony. We most typically pin the tallis to the underside of the canopy we are providing, as they are often rectangular in shape (whereas a chuppah is usually square) and smaller that the typical chuppah structure to stand alone. Additionally, families often have more than one they want to display. We ask that our clients provide them to us at the site on the day of the wedding, so that we don’t have to be responsible for it’s safe keeping for long. Be prepared that the florist may have to use pins through the fabric.

Heirloom chuppah canopies – We are more than happy to use an heirloom or handmade canopy for the chuppah. Be sure to talk to the florist about what size the canopy you have is, so that they can provide the correct size structure. Additionally, you will typically need to make sure that there are some kind of ties on the corners of the canopy – grandma’s quilt will work great, but you will need to pin or baste some ribbons or ties onto the corner so we have some way to secure it to the structure. Usually these kind of canopies work best with a simple chuppah of wood dowels or branches, rather than a fully fabric draped one.

Photo by Freed Photography

Photo by Tara Parekh

Lockets, necklaces or rosaries – We recommend these kind of item get worked into the handle of a bouquet, or if they are small enough, wired into a boutonniere. Pendants, like lockets, can be pinned through the jump ring at the top of the pendant to the ribbon wrap of a bouquet or boutonniere. Other kinds of necklaces, where the chain is important, such as a rosary, may need to be wrapped and pinned around the handle. We prefer to receive these items at our studio a few days before the event so we have time to pin and arrange them.

Brooches – Like pendants, these can also be just secured to the ribbon wrap on a bouquet. However, if you want them placed within the flowers, that can also happen. With something that has a structure, such as pin, on the back we can usually wrap a wire into it and then insert the wire into the flowers. If there isn’t anything to attach the wire, however, we may have to use some glue to do so – if the item is a family heirloom, please be sure to talk with your florist first so that we don’t inadvertently damage it !

Photo by Aimee Custiss

Photo by Memories of Bliss Photography

Dress scraps/handkerchiefs – These are best wrapped around the handle of the bride’s bouquet as well. Handkerchiefs are easily wrapped around the handle, and can even be done so when the bouquet is delivered – a single pin is usually all that is needed to hold it in place. With dress or veil scraps, we typically prefer that they are more neatly cut or pressed into ribbon like strips, so that they can be used instead of ribbon on the handle of the bouquet. Be sure to alert your florist if you do not want any of the fabric you are providing them to be cut or damaged!

We hope that helps!

Do you have a question about flowers or wedding planning? Send us your question in the comment field or by email (to info@petalsedge.com, subject line “Ask the Florist”), and we’ll include it in a future round of Ask the Florist!

I’m curious about champagne toned flowers. I want light colored flowers for my wedding, but I don’t want to use white, since it’s so stark, and my dress is more of a champagne, beige tone. Can you tell me what flowers come in a champagne color? I see a lot of very pale pink and champagne colored flowers in photos on Pinterest, but I was also told that a lot of those photos are filtered and not true to color. How do I make sure I get the right color for my wedding day?

– Ellen R.

What a timely question – champagne, frequently mixed with shades of burgundy and sage green is a very popular color palette for fall weddings around here these days.

We’re going to be completely honest with you in the answer to your question and you probably won’t like the answer. What flowers come in champagne tones? The answer is roses. Roses, roses, and only roses.

Yes, only roses comes in what dress makers and the pantone people would call “champagne”. There are a couple of varieties (‘Sahara’ and ‘Quicksand’) of roses now that can be called a champagne tone, but unfortunately, only roses come in a true beige tone. While many of the photos on Pinterest do show lots of lovely sepia toned bouquets, filled with lots of interesting texture and flowers in shades of beige, the reality is that most of those photos are of much darker, deeper colored peach and light pink flowers that have been filtered and lightened. Truthfully, this is the case with most photos on the internet of flowers – they are just not true to their real life color.

This is great news if you love roses and planned for an all rose wedding. But based on the pictures we are seeing out there on the interwebs these days, that’s not a terribly popular choice. However, all is not lost! It is possible to interpret those pictures to get something that approximates a champagne palette and use more than just roses. Whether you are trying to only use champagne tones, or if you are mixing it with other colors, the best way to get an overall champagne color for your light flowers is to mix those lovely ‘Sahara’ roses with other, highly textured flowers in varying shades of ivory. The texture will bring depth and shadow to the flowers, making even some of the whiter flowers look less stark. Depending on how deep you want the champagne color to pop, you can stick to just true ivory and white flowers, like stock, lisianthus, spray roses and dahlias, or you can shift to flowers that are a a very deep, yellowish ivory, such as cream colored stock and lisianthus. These two flowers, while actually a very pale butter yellow, especially when combined with some deeper tones such as burgundy, dark orange, and/or sage green, and the beige roses, will create what looks like a real life sepia effect with the flowers.

We hope that helps!

Do you have a question about flowers or wedding planning? Send us your question in the comment field or by email (to info@petalsedge.com, subject line “Ask the Florist”), and we’ll include it in a future round of Ask the Florist!

I’ve recently seen a number of my friends, as well as my sister, go through the whole wedding planning thing and almost all of them turned into some level of bride-zilla during the planning process! Having been on the receiving end of some of the hostility (and watched one of them totally get nasty to a catering staff person who was perfectly innocent), I’m really trying to avoid doing that to my friends and my vendors. I’m wondering if you have any advice as to how I can be a good client and avoid going all bride-zilla on everyone.

– Liz C.

Photo by Justine Ungaro

Liz,

What a great question! While we can’t necessarily council you through how to avoid being a bride-zilla to your friends and family, we will say that the number one thing you can do to help ease your anxiety about the day (which seems to be the primary reason why people lose their stuff on the people around them) is to follow Queen Elsa’s advice and “let it go”. Stop focusing on the details (and annoying Aunt Sue) and just be happy that at the end of the day you will be married – presumably to your soul mate!

However, as we aren’t therapists we can’t give you too much advice as to how to actually accomplish that feat. Being a good floral client, though? That we can advise you on! Here is a list of the top things that usually hamper our creativity and limit us being able to communicate well with you, which as you can imagine, leads to major stress for you:

Have your color scheme and look selected before your initial meeting – There are literally thousands of color combinations, styles and looks for your wedding flowers. Even if you are the type of client that hates the idea of having “wedding colors” or a theme, come up with some basic ideas so that we can narrow down the options for you. We can do a lot but we can’t choose colors for you.

Focus on style and color, rather than flower type – You don’t like roses (or tulips or freesia or whatever)? We get that. But there are often reasons for us suggesting you use a particular flower: for structural reasons, color or to achieve the texture/look in the pinterest pictures you are showing us. We still promise that the look will be what you are asking for even if they are hidden in the arrangement. If multiple flowers are listed in the description of the arrangement, it will not be the only flower in there. The only caveat here is if you are allergic to a particular flower; make sure you tell us that!

Trust us – Most established florists have been doing this a while, and have done lots of types of arrangements. Many of the photographs you bring us are from staged photo shoots and are therefore not representative of something that needs to hold up all day at your wedding. We have to make adjustments to make that 2 dimensional photo work in 3D. Trust us when we explain what is and isn’t available (for any amount of money) in your area at the time, trust us when we explain how the colors in the photo will look in real life and trust us when we suggest you don’t get your flowers hours and hours prior to the ceremony since they won’t hold up. Look at our portfolio. If you like it, then you will probably be happy with the end result of our efforts.

Understand that flowers are natural things – We as florists only have so much control over the color and quality of the flowers we receive. Sometimes we have zero control over it. Flowers don’t come in dye lots, like your shoes, and they are super perishable, even more so than food. Most of us only receive and care for the flowers for the few days they are in our care. The rest of their life they were either on a farm, in a plane or sitting in a wholesaler’s cooler. The flowers will be perfect even if they aren’t exactly the right shade of pink because flowers are beautiful regardless.

Read your contract – Please know exactly what you have ordered, and keep a copy of the contract you signed. Ask questions and make adjustments to the contract (in advance!!) if it doesn’t seem right – we are not perfect. The mistakes that get made most often are misunderstandings between what you expected to get and what the contract says you will get. We go out of our way to make sure what we delivery is what the contract says because that is all we have to go on to communicate to our staff.

We hope that helps!

Photo by Michelle Renee Photography

Do you have a question about flowers or wedding planning? Send us your question in the comment field or by email (to info@petalsedge.com, subject line “Ask the Florist”), and we’ll include it in a future round of Ask the Florist!

I’m unsure of how early I should have my florist deliver my bouquets. Do I need to have them for the “first look” and the early pre-ceremony photos? I’m just wondering if they will still look nice for my ceremony if I get them 3-4 hours before the ceremony, which is when my photos are starting.

– Erika J.

Erika,

Oh, the eternal question! A tricky one indeed, since it is about balancing the freshness of your flowers with having them in your pre-ceremony photos. Since each wedding is different, this is definitely a question that should be answered in coordination with both your florist and photographer to figure out what is best for your particular event. My first suggestion would be to talk to them and hear what their thoughts are on the subject. Since you asked us (and we know this is an issue that many couples deal with) we thought this would be a great opportunity for a chance for us to bring in a guest advisor!

Photo by Hope Taylor Photography

We sat down with our colleague and photographer Jennifer Cody of Egomedia Photography and asked her for her thoughts on the issue.

Jennifer’s advice is largely the same regardless of whether you are having a first look or not – don’t get them too early! We tend to agree, but it’s nice to hear it from a photographer as well. If you are not having a first look, says Jennifer, then skip it, and get the flowers at the ceremony location. It’s not worth the chance that you will leave your bouquets behind at the hotel (or where ever you are getting ready) or damage them en route to the ceremony. She’s right! It does happen. A hotel concierge once had to buy our bride’s bouquet a taxi ride so it would make it to the church for the ceremony. It held up the ceremony by 40 minutes!

Photo by Erika Nizborski

Photo by Erika Nizborski

For weddings that are having a “first look” (for those not in the know, this is a new tradition where the couple sees each other for the first time before the ceremony, instead of waiting until the ceremony itself), Jennifer also suggests skipping the flowers since the photos are about the couple and that moment. She says, “The bouquet doesn’t wind up in many pictures and often just gets in the way.” She also notes that she often finds that she or her assistant wind up having to babysit the bouquet to make sure that it doesn’t get bumped or bruised, and in reality, the bouquet will be in so many pictures later in the wedding. Since family and wedding party photos are generally in the hour or so before the ceremony, she suggests getting them in time for those photos.

Photo by Spence Photographics

We agree! It’s better to get your flowers as close as possible to the ceremony start; then they will remain fresh for both the ceremony and the reception. This is particularly important if you have any plans for using those bouquets as decor during the reception. Do consider your timeline and talk to your photographer and florist about this. You don’t want those bouquets to just wind up sitting in a corner – out of water – in a hot room (or worse, outside on a hot day) for hours because you didn’t consider when you would actually need them. Do remember those corsages and boutonnieres – being wired, they are particularly sensitive to being out of the cooler. Don’t pad the timeline thinking it will take a long time to pin them on – you will only need about 10-15 minutes for that at most.

We hope that helps!

Do you have a question about flowers or wedding planning? Send us your question in the comment field or by email (to info@petalsedge.com, subject line “Ask the Florist”), and we’ll include it in a future round of Ask the Florist!

This year, for the first time, Pantone announced not one but two colors as the “Color of the Year” – Rose Quartz and Serenity. Together, Pantone says, the colors “demonstrate an inherent balance between a warmer, embracing rose tone and the cooler tranquil blue”. Thinking about how to this color scheme might look for a wedding? Then look no further than this wonderful wedding for which we designed the flowers. Does this look like a wedding you would favor?

Love that garland look but not sure what it will do to your budget? Well look no further than United with Love’s write up on managing expectations – for a luxe affair and a more mid-range budget – when you have a particular design in mind. We are delighted to share some of our favorite images featured in the article, all from a styled shoot at Dock 5 at Union Market.

Carnations have long been the subject of the fickleness of trend. It was said they were popular during the reign of Louis XIV (they were the official flower of court), but though they’ve fallen in and out of favor over the decades, they seem to leave us with a bad taste in our mouths when used traditionally. This is unfortunate considering the flower comes in just about every color on the planet and can withstand the most heinous abuse a florist could stand to inflict upon it.

Photo by Chris Balthazar photography

carnations

For most floral designers, carnations are, by every definition except appearance, the ultimate dream flower. Here are a few reasons why!

They last a minimum of 7 days, though it’s not uncommon for them to last as long as two weeks.

They do well with little to no water for extended periods to time, which makes them a first pick for ambitious projects involving large pieces of floral foam.

They’re impervious to more extreme conditions like wintertime or a hot, sunny day.

Their heads are bold and allow for a good amount of coverage.

Their structure is sturdy and reliable, but somehow yielding in nature, such that you could say, run a bloom over with a delivery van and it would be usable!

You see our point, but what can be done about that one small problem of general overall appearance? Easy! When we want to use carnations we follow two simple rules to keep our creations from looking dated or out of style:

Rule number one: Except in the most rare, elusive circumstances, keep your arrangements mono-botanical. Meaning if you choose carnations, use only carnations!

Rule number two: Keep. Your stems. Hidden!

These rules work in conjunction and are pretty simple to follow. The result is the floral equivalent of modeling clay!

The sculptural ability of carnations is essentially just using the head to fill space. When using floral foam, think of each carnation head as a dab of paint! Sculpt your arrangement to any desired shape or size, and “paint” the surface with carnations. You can use a single color. You can use many shades for an ombré effect. Heck you could even recreate famous works of art! Seriously though folks, you can use carnations to make everything from pomanders to pretty pavé designs on any scale. Just imagine your place cards nestled on a huge bed of carnations! The possibilities are endless!

Photo by Kurstin Roe Photography

Photo by The Observatory

Carnation Tips Facts:

Season: Year-round

Pairings: These babies work best alone.

Colors: Virtually every color of the rainbow

When to use: For bold, sculptural pieces where the focus is less about the individual flower and more about form overall.

As a wedding coordinator, I often find that more often than not, my day-of clients seem to ignore much of the wedding flower and decor advice that is out there – from their florists, from books, magazines, and the internet, and even from myself. I see (and have to fix) a lot of wedding day decor disasters that could have easily been avoided if they had followed the expert advice that was out there when planning their wedding. Why do you think that is?

– Shaundra W.

Photo by Steve Whysall Photography

Dear Shaundra,

This is a really good question. We write this blog, and in particular this section of it, with the hope that the information we put out there will be put to good use. Clearly, as you have seen, that’s not always happening. We, too, have seen our share of wedding day decor disasters. We have also had clients that seem unhappy when we offer suggestions to steer them away from particular ideas that might result in problems (we’ve learned and seen a lot in our 11 years on the job!). Here are a couple of our thoughts as to why that might be:

Budgets are NOT fun. Unless you are Kardashian-level rich, the fact is that no one really wants to think about how much money they are going to lay out for their wedding. It’s going to cost a lot, usually in big fat chunks that is going to make the bank account or credit card statement look sad. There are no doubt plenty of people who avoid thinking about the budget issue by being unrealistic about the costs of things and by cutting whole vendor categories out of the budget completely, such as the florist, and opting to do it themselves. They often forget that all of the pieces of that centerpiece project cost money, even though it is only $20-50 here, $90-100 there. It adds up. And they usually forget to count the cost of their own (or their family and friends’) time in there, too. In the end, it probably adds up to the cost an expert would charge and possibly ends in exhaustion or disaster.

Crafting is fun. Let’s face it, in today’s world, many of us don’t get a whole lot of creative outlets. While there are lots of great ideas at craft stores for things you can make, let’s be realistic here: how many wreaths, scrapbooks and bedazzled t-shirts can you make before you start to feel like what you are producing has no real purpose? Weddings are the perfect outlet for this; crafting finally has a purpose and a real use! Many don’t realize the complexity a wedding adds to the project – getting it done ahead of time, getting it to the wedding, and having someone (who isn’t a family member or best friend) willing to set it up.

Pinterest is fun. Social media is just that – it’s social. One can share all of these dreams and ideas with friends online. They can see all of the pictures people have shared, and imagine the fun they will have crafting this (see above) for their wedding. But as those hysterical “pinterest fails” have shown, not all of us are up to recreating the expert level some of those magazine-worthy photos.

Reality is also NOT fun. See all of the above. It’s easy for clients to dream about all of these great ideas they see on the internet and think that they are expert crafters who can do it all themselves, from scratch. In this day and age, we have seen that the internet is making many even question the advice of medical professionals. We can all now be experts. As we have seen by some of these wedding day disasters, that’s really not the case. Really, that is ok. It is ok to not be an expert crafter, wedding planner or floral designer. That’s why the experts are there – to hire and to lend their advice.

Do you have a question about flowers or wedding planning? Send us your question in the comment field or by email (to info@petalsedge.com, subject line “Ask the Florist”), and we’ll include it in a future round of Ask the Florist!

There’s no need for rain to spoil your wedding day – and Anna and Alan’s wedding showed that in spades! But really, when daffodils are your flower of choice – a sunny yellow bloom that shouts spring from the rooftops at the top of its lungs like no other – is there any other option?

Anna and Alan were another of our event management clients. In addition to providing their flowers, we assisted with their rehearsal and seeing through the wedding day’s events. The day started with Anna and her bridal party getting ready at her parents’ home not far from Woodend. Kristen Eicke did a stunning job with the ladies’ hair.

Final touches like putting on her wedding dress took place in the ready room. Despite the rain, Anna and Alan were able to find a spot in the house for a first look.

The ceremony was originally intended for the lovely grove of trees at Woodend, but the threat of rain and concern for cold (a high of 53 was predicted!) forced the couple to reconsider and move the ceremony inside. The centerpiece of the ceremony – a chuppah that was a personal design of the groom’s – was placed in front of the fireplace in the great room. It is always so nice to see couples put a personal stamp on their ceremony, this chuppah very much that case. The structure was assembled by Alan and his groomsmen (and since dealing with ceremony structures and flowers are our forte, a little final help from us).

Though the seating was tight in the great room, the effect was ultimately intimate and personal. A friend of the couple officiated the Jewish ceremony, and the bride’s mother, who had been ordained, made the final pronouncement of husband and wife. A sister of the bride and bridesmaid commented following the ceremony that, in the house, the occasion felt truly special and personal since everyone could truly hear and feel a part of the occasion.

Anna and Alan’s flowers were the epitome of happiness with yellow daffodils providing a cheery, bright spot to the day. Anna’s bouquet featured classic white lilac, tulips, and roses and sunny yellow daffodils and ranunculus accented with blue delphinium. The bridesmaids carried similar spring mix of ranunculus, daffodils, tulips, stock, roses and delphinium in white, yellow and blue hues. The groom and groomsmen followed suit, the groom wearing a white ranunculus blossom and the rest of the men in yellow.

The daffodil theme carried through to the reception, gracing each of the cocktail tables in a silver mint julep cup. Originally intended for the ceremony, grand floor-standing urns were moved to flank the sweetheart table, each featuring white and cream stock, tulips, larkspur and daffodils finished with hints of blue delphinium. The tables each held gardeny arrangements of spring flowers in a classic, glass-footed bowl.

And the cake! What a piece-de-resistance created by Fluffy Thoughts where green apples served as supports for the tier separations.

Following the couple’s first dance to Storybook Love and the father-daughter dance to I Won’t Dance, guests were invited to join the dance floor, and DJ Chris Laich kept it filled all night long!

And in a twist you don’t see often, Alan took Anna’s last name! Congratulations to you both, and thank you for letting share in your day.

We thought we’d do something special this month and crush on a specific variety of a flower! And so we present the luscious Sweet Escimo rose for your visual (and olfactory) pleasure. Nicknamed (just now, at this moment, by me!) “Sweet E”, Sweet Escimo is very sweet indeed. Often richly scented, the Ecuadorian-grown variety languishes in the perfect shade of blush pink.

Blush pink, that pale, barely there hint of color that is the equivalent of a flushed cheek, is one of the most highly sought-after shade in the industry these days. Alas, it is also one of the most elusive and is often a result of happenstance. For example, you might see a bunch of white peonies or anemone with the slightest touch of pink. Though the blush on these otherwise white blooms creates a stunning effect that’s difficult to overlook when perusing Pinterest or magazines and considering your color scheme, the blush on many of these flowers, sadly, is purely coincidental. In fact, many varieties of flowers marketed as “blush pink” can actually end up being rather “hot”. That’s what makes this rose so special. The perfect shade of blush aside, the rose’s feather-weight head, ethereal opening pattern, low thorn count, and supple, never-woody stem make it a favorite to work with and one of our leading light pink ladies in bouquets and arrangements alike!

Sweet Escimo Facts:

Season: Year-round

Colors: A perfectly blush light pink that tends to lighten a bit as the rose opens.

When to Use: For a perfectly sweet, reliable light pink. Great in bouquets, boutonnieres, ceremony flowers, and table designs